Juveniles being held in Larry’s Party Shop robbery case

Judge orders suspects detained until next hearing

By David Wright - dwright@aimmediamidwest.com

Two juveniles who were allegedly involved in an armed robbery at Larry’s Party Shop on Tuesday night will be held at a detention center in Chillicothe until a pre-trial hearing Feb. 13, according to Highland County Juvenile Court Judge Kevin Greer.

Greer told The Times-Gazette on Thursday that the two juveniles, one of whom police say brandished a gun during a robbery at the Muntz Street convenience store, appeared in court for a detention hearing Thursday morning, and the judge ordered both be held until the next hearing in the case.

While the suspected robber, a 17-year-old male, is charged with aggravated robbery and theft, and the other, a 16-year-old male, is charged with complicity and receiving stolen property, Highland County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Molly Bolek said the prosecutor’s office has not yet filed a formal complaint against the juveniles.

Attorneys Bill Armintrout and Denny Kirk were appointed to represent the juveniles.

The next hearing in the case will be held Feb. 13 at 9 a.m., although the judge said that is subject to change.

Another suspect in the case, Faith Marie Scott, 19, is charged with complicity to aggravated robbery, receiving stolen property and two counts of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child.

It is unclear how she and the 16-year-old were involved in the crime. Scott is being held at the Highland County Justice Center on $100,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 6.

As reported by The Times-Gazette, the Hillsboro Police Department issued a news release on Wednesday saying that at 8:51 p.m. Tuesday, a male subject walked into Larry’s Party Shop, located at 113 Muntz St., brandished a weapon, demanded cash from the register and fled the scene with an undetermined amount of cash.

Hillsboro Police Chief Darrin Goudy said Wednesday that the subject fled the store on foot, wearing a black jacket with a black hood and a white mask, and a further description was not possible due to how the suspect was dressed.

“He was covered from head to toe,” Goudy said.

Later, HPD Sgt. Shawn Kelley said the 17-year-old male had walked to the store from an unspecified location, robbed the store, then returned to the location from which he came.

The police department later developed leads and executed search warrants at two different homes, Kelley said, and most of the money along with property involved in the robbery – clothing, handgun, mask, etc. – was recovered.

No Larry’s Party Shop employees were injured during the incident, the police department said.

Shane Wilkin, the Highland County commissioner who is the owner of the store, offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the suspect(s).

Kelley said it was a combined effort from many people that led to the arrests, and a Facebook post from the Larry’s Party Shop page was helpful as well.

“We had some leads, the community was great, the day shift officers followed up on some leads… and Shane Wilkin was able to get the word out there on Facebook,” Kelley said. “We just started getting some good leads and the leads we got panned out.”